Sisi Feng is the Drug Metabolism and Disposition Highlighted Trainee Author for the April 2021 issue. Dr. Feng is a post-doctoral trainee with the Shanghai Hexaell Biotech Co., Ltd., China. Her mentor is Dr. Xin Cheng with the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The DMD article that earned her selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Functional Proliferating Human Hepatocytes: In Vitro Hepatocyte Model for Drug Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/dmd.120.000275.
Sisi Feng’s area of research is stem cell-based cell therapy and tissue regeneration, especially focusing on hepatocyte-based cell therapy and drug screening for liver diseases. In her article, she and her colleagues demonstrated that proliferating human hepatocytes (ProliHH) generated from primary human hepatocytes (PHH) were able to partially maintain metabolic and transporter capacities of hepatocyte, and ProliHH could be utilized to predict potential drug hepatotoxicity risk. More importantly, the novel 3D suspension culture strategy for ProliHH was able to facilitate drug candidate screening in ADMET (hepatic metabolism, disposition, and toxicity). In addition, she developed a robust large-scale serum-free suspension culture system that uses human endoderm stem cells (hEnSCs) as precursors for generating functional and transplantable hepatocytes or cholangiocytes, which lays the foundation for the development of cell-based therapeutics and in vitro applications for liver diseases.
The anticipated impact of Dr. Feng’s current research is that ProliHH can be an alternative model for human hepatocytes. Considering the reductions in cost and increases in availability, it will facilitate drug discovery studies greatly, especially in early screening of drug metabolism, transport, and hepatotoxicity.
When not in the lab, Sisi Feng enjoys swimming, running, and practicing yoga.